By Elliot Foster

Tyson Fury will return to the ring in the spring.

The former world heavyweight champion, who has been out of the ring since personal problems ruled him out of the rematch against Wladimir Klitschko last October, took to Twitter to confirm the news.

Fury (25-0, 18 KOs) will make his comeback from a 18-month hiatus on May 13, exclusively live on BT Sport and BoxNation, at the First Direct Arena in Leeds.

“[We are] working on an opponent,” Fury wrote on social media, “[with] more news to follow.”

The card on which Fury has claimed he will return is topped by Josh Warrington in a defence of his WBC International featherweight title against former world title challenger Kiko Martinez.

Elsewhere on the card, double Olympic champion Nicola Adams will have her second pro outing in a homecoming after making her debut on April 8 in Manchester and Jazza Dickens defends his British super-bantamweight title against mandatory challenger Thomas Patrick Ward.

The Liverpudlian, who has been out since last July after suffering a broken jaw in a retirement defeat to Guillermo Rigondeaux, when he challenged the talented Cuban for the Super WBA world title in Cardiff, won the belt against Josh Wale and defended it against Ward’s older brother Martin back in November 2015.

Meanwhile, Phil Sutcliffe Jr. is slated to face Josh Leather for the vacant IBF Inter-Continental super-lightweight title.

It will grant the winner a world ranking with the organisation whose current champion is Namibian Julius Indongo – who himself seeks to unify with WBA ruler Ricky Burns on April 15 at the SSE Hydro Arena in Glasgow –– but the fight is dependent on Sutcliffe Jr. coming out of a warm-up fight on March 10 at the aforementioned Waterfront Hall in Belfast unscathed.

There will be action for British super-lightweight champion Tyrone Nurse over 10 rounds, just three weeks after he is slated to defend his Lonsdale belt against Joe Hughes on April 22 at Leicester Arena.

And Darren Tetley, Thomas Kindon, Zak Chelli and Kalam Leather will all box alongside Joe Maphosa, the former Team GB amateur standout, who will make his professional debut.

Further details regarding the return of Fury will be revealed in due course, although Boxing Scene understands that no deal is yet in place for his addition to the bill.

Fury is currently under provisional suspension by the British Boxing Board of Control as the additional consequence of self-confessed cocaine abuse.

The Board have long been urging the United Kingdom Anti-Doping authority to process the steroid accusations and it is believed the hearing is pencilled in for mid-April.